Beijing banks issue mortgages despite rumors they’d stopped

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Despite rumors to the contrary, banks in Beijing are issuing mortgages as usual, Xinhua News Agency reported Monday evening, citing an unnamed source at a state-owned bank. Government efforts to rein in lending and deflate a property bubble being inflated by rampant speculation has led to rumors that banks had stopped extending mortgages. That’s not the case at four major state-owned banks ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank, as well as joint-stock banks like CIB and CITIC, according to the report. The banks are caught in a bind because choking off housing loans will hurt their own business, according to the source in the report.多家银行表示未暂停个人房贷

(An earlier version of this story said banks were ignoring directives from the government on restricting property loans. This has been corrected to show banks are still issuing loans contrary to rumors in the market that they had stopped.)

Coal companies to meet reform commission on slashing output

The Shenhua Group and 22 other major coal companies will sit down with the National Development and Reform Commission on Tuesday to thrash out coal production cuts and means to reduce overcapacity in the industry, according to a report in the Shanghai Securities Journal. China is expected to cut coal output by 250 million tons this year. Beside discussing coal demand and supply, upgrading of mines and sustainable development is also on the agenda.发改委召集22家大型煤企负责人25日开会 分析供需形势